O3-4 Progress on addressing the cornerstones of physical activity policy for children and youth in England

Abstract Background There has been an increasing focus on the importance of national policy to address population levels of physical inactivity. It has been suggested that the four ?cornerstones' of policy comprise: 1) national guidelines on physical activity levels; 2) setting population goals and targets; 3) surveillance or health monitoring systems; and 4) public education. The aim of the current paper was to analyse the policy actions which have addressed each of these elements for children and youth in England and to identify areas of progress and remaining challenges. Methods A literature search was undertaken to identify past and present documents relevant to physical activity policy for children and youth in England. Each document was analysed to identify content relevant to the four ?cornerstones' of policy. Results Physical activity guidelines for children and youth have been in place since 1998 and reviewed periodically to ensure they reflect the latest scientific evidence. The setting of physical activity targets has focused on the provision of opportunities for physical activity, particularly through physical education (PE) in schools, rather than in relation to the proportion of children meeting recommended physical activity levels. There has been much surveillance of children's physical activity but this has been undertaken infrequently over time, by a wide range of organisations, and with varying inclusion of different domains of activity such as school PE, leisure time activity and active travel. There has only been one campaign in England targeted at children and their intermediaries (Change4Life), which was an obesity campaign focussing on dietary behaviour in combination with physical activity. Most recently an infographic supporting the physical activity guidelines for children and young people was developed, but details of its dissemination and usage are unknown. Conclusions There have been many developments in physical activity policy in England targeted at children and youth. The area of greatest progress is national physical activity guidelines. Establishing prevalence targets, streamlining surveillance systems, and investing in public education would strengthen national policy efforts to reduce physical inactivity.

The World Health Organization recommends active commuting to and from school as a source of physical activity. Worldwide, active commuting, i.e. walking or biking, is determined by various factors including gender, socioeconomic status of families and neighborhoods, the built envormnet, distance to schools, perceived neighborhood safety, life styles, and availability of walkways, biking paths and parks. Previous studies from Swedish indicate that the proportion of youth being active commuters descres with age, but has also decresed over time. This study aimed at assessing health and environmental factors associated with modes of transportation to and from school among 333 adolescents aged 16-19 living in a middle-sized city in Sweden. The present city has 380 kilometer of walking and biking paths that cover the whole city, of which parts are heated in the winter to avoid snow and ice. Still, only 32% of the adolescents were active commuters to and from school. Active commuting was linked to other healthy behaviours including more frequenct daily consumption of fruits and vegetables and less frequent consumption of junk food. Morover, the presence of well illuminated walking and biking paths was strongly associated with active commuting, as compared to not having access to less illuminated paths. However, the relation between active commuting and socioeconomic status of the Abstract citation ID: ckac094.020 O3-4 Progress on addressing the cornerstones of physical activity policy for children and youth in England

Background
There has been an increasing focus on the importance of national policy to address population levels of physical inactivity. It has been suggested that the four ?cornerstones' of policy comprise: 1) national guidelines on physical activity levels; 2) setting population goals and targets; 3) surveillance or health monitoring systems; and 4) public education. The aim of the current paper was to analyse the policy actions which have addressed each of these elements for children and youth in England and to identify areas of progress and remaining challenges. Methods A literature search was undertaken to identify past and present documents relevant to physical activity policy for children and youth in England. Each document was analysed to identify content relevant to the four ?cornerstones' of policy.

Results
Physical activity guidelines for children and youth have been in place since 1998 and reviewed periodically to ensure they reflect the latest scientific evidence. The setting of physical activity targets has focused on the provision of opportunities for physical activity, particularly through physical education (PE) in schools, rather than in relation to the proportion of children meeting recommended physical activity levels. There has been much surveillance of children's physical activity but this has been undertaken infrequently over time, by a wide range of organisations, and with varying inclusion of different domains of activity such as school PE, leisure time activity and active travel. There has only been one campaign in England targeted at children and their intermediaries (Change4Life), which was an obesity campaign focussing on dietary behaviour in combination with physical activity. Most recently an infographic supporting the physical activity guidelines for children and young people was developed, but details of its dissemination and usage are unknown.

Conclusions
There have been many developments in physical activity policy in England targeted at children and youth. The area of greatest progress is national physical activity guidelines. Establishing prevalence targets, streamlining surveillance systems, and investing in public education would strengthen national policy efforts to reduce physical inactivity. However, there is a lack of studies that examined changes in these variables over time and their relation to changes in children's physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate a) if FHC and outcome expectations change from first to fourth grade in primary school and b) how they are related to decrease or increase of children's physical activity. Methods 380 consulted parents of primary-school age children (46,6 % male) continuously answered questions about their PA-related outcome expectations, FHC (predictor) and daily PA (outcome) of their children over four school years, starting 2014 with first grade (t1), third grade (t2), fourth grade (t3) in Leipzig, Germany. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to Abstract citation ID: ckac094.022 O3-6 The Healthy School Start Plus Study -A parental support programme to promote healthy behaviours and prevent childhood obesity in disadvantaged areas The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden Corresponding author: mahnoush.malek@ki.se

Background
The rise in childhood overweight and obesity worldwide demands effective health promotion and obesity prevention programmes, especially targeting socially disadvantaged areas. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of a revised parental support programme, promoting physical activity and a healthy diet, and on preventing overweight and obesity among children in disadvantaged areas.

Methods
The effectiveness of this programme will be compared to standard school routines in a parallel group cluster randomised controlled trial. The 6-month programme included: 1) A health information brochure; 2) School nurses conducting motivational interviewing with parents; 3) Classroom activities and home assignments for children; 4) A self-test for type-2 diabetes risk for parents. Seventeen schools were enrolled including 352 six-year-old children (155 intervention/197 control). Physical activity and sedentary time were measured by accelerometry. Dietary intake was assessed by a newly developed mobile phonebased photo method. Weight and height were measured by trained researchers. All outcomes were measured at baseline and at 6 and 18 months post baseline. Parental level of education was self-reported, and the highest level achieved by either parent was used as an indicator of socioeconomic position (SEP). A mixedeffect regression analysis will be performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme.

Results
After the intervention, when adjusting for sex and parental education, the intervention group showed 6.4 mins more moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during weekdays than the control group (p = 0.03). No significant effect on MVPA was detected during weekends (p = 0.47). Further, no significant effect was detected on time spent sedentary during weekdays (p = 0.12) nor during weekends (p = 0.78). According to IOTF classifications, 9.6% of the children had obesity, 16.4% overweight, 4.4% underweight and 69.6% normal weight. Results on changes in BMI, and dietary intake at 6 months will be presented.

Conclusions
The results from the evaluation of this parental support programme will add to the knowledge and advance intervenresearch group, Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain